This speech was published under
the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Draft text of the speech - may differ from the delivered version.
I’m going to avoid all the obvious jokes about Guy Fawkes night.
No corny…

Draft text of the speech - may differ from the delivered version.

I’m going to avoid all the obvious jokes about Guy Fawkes night.

No corny remarks about blowing up parliament or references to a bonfire of the quangos.

I’ll just stick to my little sparkler of a speech.

But I do just want to make one point before I start.

I was delighted to hear yesterday that the FBU had called off its strike which would have covered Bonfire Night and Diwali. I am glad that common sense has prevailed.

I think that a lot of people here today will have had grave reservations about the proposed strike. I hope the unions and employers can resolve this dispute in a more constructive way, without resorting to industrial action.

Let me get back to the main event.

There’s no denying the recent financial settlement was tough for councils. And you all knew it would be.

But though councils have less money - you also have far more power.

More influence. More choices. More opportunities. More freedom than you’ve had in decade. In truth more power than for a quarter of a century.

So make no mistake.

Even if the coffers were overflowing.

We’d still be doing this.

We’d still be passing power out - to local councils and to local communities.

Because it’s big government as well as big spending that got us into this financial mess.

And if you want to run better public services.

If you want to have a dynamic economy.

If you want to have strong local communities.

Then you don’t control everything from on high.

You need to put power back where it belongs.

You give councils control of the purse strings and let them make the decisions.

You stop tying councillors up with red tape and regulation and let them get on with it.

You give people a genuine reason to get involved in their community - in the knowledge that they can actually make a difference.

That’s what this settlement was about - power and influence as well as the raw figures.

It’s about making local communities stronger.

We’ve had more than a decade of central government pulling the strings. Look where it got us.

It’s time to give local government a try.

And London is showing how it’s done.

You get Redbridge - more open, more honest, more transparent - really getting the community involved in difficult choices.

You get Camden and Islington - looking at saving the public thousands of pounds by sharing a chief executive and senior management.

You get Hammersmith and Fulham, Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea - demonstrating the future of local public services.

London councils are taking the lead.

Showing the future of local government.

And I believe that all of you can rise to this challenge.

All of you can innovate, save money - and give your residents a better deal.

Because the shackles of central government have been removed.

For the first time in living memory, you can genuinely make a difference to the lives of your residents.

Now that you don’t have the targets, the forms and the inspections to worry about.

You can get on with worrying about what your residents want.

And there are lots of areas where you will be in a stronger position by working together.
Take pensions.